For those of you who are familiar with the ABC show "Dancing with the Stars", Kathleen Corey is the "Julianne Hough, Cheryl Burke and Charlotte Jorgensen" of Pacific Palisades. Over her more than twenty years as a professional ballroom dance instructor, she has distinguished herself nationally by her incredible record of transforming male amateur dancers into non-celebrity championship-winning "John O'Hurleys", "Drew Lacheys", "Emmitt Smiths", "Apolo Anton Ohnos", "Helio Castroneves", "Jason Taylors" and "Warren Sapps".

Kathleen began her career in ballroom dancing at the former Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Beverly Hills and has been trained and coached by many of the top international names in ballroom dancing. In 1987 she founded her own independent studio, Ballroom Magic, in the Westchester / LAX area. Kathleen and her studio regularly participated in some of this nation’s largest NDCA- (National Dance Council of America) sponsored competitions with its students, and from 1988 on, had an unbroken record of winning the Top Studio award at every competition they participated in. Kathleen was a regular in the Top Teacher award lineup, and in 1991-92, was the highest-placing female instructor at the Emerald Ball Championships, the third largest in the nation. Ballroom Magic was the favorite “home away from home” of several large groups of Southern California dance enthusiasts, including the South Bay (formerly Hughes) Social Dance Club in El Segundo and the UCLA Ballroom Dance Club.

Following the death of her parents, Kathleen returned to Pacific Palisades and retired for a few years, but by 2004, ready for a fresh start, she founded Palisades Dance Connection and began teaching in earnest again.